WayForward Is Making A New Wonder Momo Video Game For PC

It’s been 25 years since the TurboGrafx-16 version of Wonder Momo was released and one of Namco’s earliest heroines is finally getting a new video game. WayForward Technologies, the developers behind Shantae, are making a Wonder Momo beat ’em up for PCs and Android consoles. The game is based on ShiftyLook’s revival, which reimagines Wonder Momo as an idol.

Namco Bandai is also producing a Wonder Momo anime series with Graphinica, a hardcover graphic novel from Udon slated for release in April, and a suite of J-pop songs. Here’s a look at those:

Give me some WayForward sprites and some Jake Kaufman music, and I’m completely sold on whatever they throw out.

Shippoyasha

Good on WayForward. They are really coming onto their own now and this game could be something special with them on board. Great that more Japanese publishers are utilizing small yet passionate dev teams to make new games.

Really hoping the best for the anime as well. They are really going all out with Wonder Momo revival. Pretty unexpected but welcome nontheless.

ZeroDenzi

WayForward? Who’s ready for an awesome soundtrack?

Spirit Macardi

Good job there Namco… NOW BRING BACK KLONOA TOO!!!

Seriously though, congrats to Momo. And it’s nice that they got a truly competent developer to work on it. ShiftyLook seems to actually be living up to its entire premise of bringing forgotten Namco properties back to life, and I’m happy to see that.

But really, Klonoa next.

M’iau M’iaut

After what ShiftyLook did with the Klonoa girl…someone else can do Klonoa, thank yee kindly.

Spirit Macardi

Did I say someone else? Hideo Yoshizawa is still around and still working at Namco (even though they’ve used him for jack-s**t lately). Just let him get to work on Klonoa 3, or even another remake. Just something!

Plus, while Namco High royally boned Lolo’s personality, Klonoa: Dream Traveler of Noctis Sol gets it right. As a matter of fact, it gets everyone right! It even gets right lesser-known characters like Guntz and Chipple.

M’iau M’iaut

I have long dreamt of Klonoa in Smash Brothers. :P

It is just amazing how even the indie revolution hasn’t been able to bring back the mascot platformer days. What a loss.

Spirit Macardi

I hardly think platformers are a dead genre. They’ve been WayForward’s bread and butter, Mighty No. 9 is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated games of this year, and of course the brothers Mario and the now revitalized Sonic keep going.

Really Klonoa’s problem has been that Namco doesn’t know what “advertise” means, plus they’ve made (or almost made) decisions that have openly screwed over the series.

Weeb

Namco made a pretty good choice for a developer. WayForward reboots are solid gold.

Final Agent

Sounds great, though I gotta say, the new Momo, Momoko, is kind of a jerk later on. Hope they mellow her out a bit, Amazona is supposed to be the jerk!

Cameron Ward

Hmmm…kind of wish it was on consoles, but I guess there wasn’t that big enough demand for it

Grape Monet

Is it strange that a (North) American creative team is responsible for the revival of a previously Japan-exclusive franchise?

WayForward reviving Wonder Momo? Sounds like something like this is up their alley. If Wonder Momo does well, I’d love to see them revive another Namco classic like The Legend of Valkyrie!

Derek E Nay

Oh she is still around… if you… look around… a bit… in the dark places of the internet…

buddyluv324

LOL! Of course I was referring to a revival of the old school top view gameplay of Legends of Valkyrie. If you havent played it yet, think of it as a much linear but more action oriented version of Zelda. It’s actually really fun but challenging too.

Brimfyre

I can’t remember how many of these there are, it might just be the one arcade game, but I remember being really impressed that the further you get in the game you can still see the bottom level from where you start as you move up the mountain and into the clouds. I can’t think of any game, even out now that has that kind of impressive scope.

I would love to play a modern version of that concept.

buddyluv324

There are two games within the Valkyrie series. The 1st is called The Adventure of Valkyrie and the 2nd is The Legend of Valkyrie. There’s also a prequel game that featured Valkyrie’s sidekick as the main character. I believe the level your talking about is the 1st level from the 2nd game.
I do hope that they’ll be a modern update to the Valkyrie games but I’m also anxious to see what WayForward does with Wonder Momo. From the look of the early screenshots so far, I’ll be keeping a closer eye on the remake. Nice of them to be faithful to the popular webcomics as far as the overall style goes.

Ni ~SHE MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN~

We could call The Adventure of Valkyrie: The Legend of the Time Key on the PS1 as a third game since it doesn’t play anything like the NES version. well it indeed is pretty much a whole different game

buddyluv324

I believe that the PS1 game is actually a remake of the NES version that was featured in the Namco Anthology collection.

hazelnut1112

Link to these places..?

Derek E Nay

The links… can not be posted here. And if I could, you would melt like you were watching the opening of the infamous Ark of the Covenant.

buddyluv324

google

Ni ~SHE MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN~

That girl is on Baba’s heart. seriously, apearing in Phantasia to “help” Cless, her theme song is the theme of Arche Tower in Naridan X. A Secret Boss in Eternia, a boss and a playable character in naridan 1, 2 and 3, a summon in the original Destiny and original Hearts and a DLC costume in PS3 Vesperia.

She needs a reboot asap in a handheld console and pc

Tom_Phoenix

Honestly, I’m more partial to how Valkyrie was potrayed in Namco x Capcom

Ugh. I love wayforward for sure but what is with Japanese ips being outsourced to western developers? Can’t we just have a Japanese IP revived and developed by the original company. Apparently there is also a web comic done by westerners for it. Seriously?

buddyluv324

Unfortunately with the west now having a pretty good dominance over the gaming industry that’s no longer the case for the most part. Japan is still trying to stay relevant and are finding it difficult to adjust to the shift in the industry.

the webcomic is western but the site is still owned by Nambai, and sense that comic is the major reason for this reboot they probably stuck with a western developer to get the ‘feel’ to be the same

TrevHead

As sad as it is most big Japanese publishers like Konami and Capcom don’t have the talent to make the old games they are known for. So they have to hire the work out, if were are lucky we get studios like Platinum Games and Grev which is where much of the original talent are. Nearly as good is that we get a Japanese studio that specialises in 2D arcade games like Ark System Works (Guilty Gear) who did a great job on Hardcorps Uprising.

Western studios are also competing as well. Imo Way Forward is one of the best 2D dev houses available so it’s actually a pretty good thing for fans imo. Especially compared to some other western outfit that can’t even do 2D but instead makes a cheap and nasty 2.5D games.

DaiRaiOh

You’re really complaining about nothing here. More so considering the comic is quite good and never real feels like it’s outright Western made at any point

brostar

I don’t doubt Wayforward can’t make a good game. But I just wish they would stop outsourcing these games to western studios. Especially Wonder Momo which is VERY VERY Japanese. Can a western studio even pull that off?

DaiRaiOh

It’s a tokusatsu idol fighting aliens. It’s never been very japanese and I say this as a huge oldschool Namco fan. That, and wayforward makes good retro-esque game. I have faith in them, especially considering as much as I love the original game, it’s hard to not improve on it.

brostar

” tokusatsu idol fighting aliens. It’s never been very japanese” That’s the definition of very Japanese.

NeoPancho

I would have prefer a console release (i would love a Wii U version) but it’s OK. I just hope this one is SLIGHTLY better than the Bravoman reboot (yeah, i know, different developers)!

hazelnut1112

I’m hoping Wayforward can deliver on this, especially since they never done a beat em up. Looking forward to what they can dish out with this.
I’m a little skeptical because they don’t do so hot when it involves copyrighted games. Only with their original IPs is where they shine, with the exception of Ducktales.

buddyluv324

You’re forgetting Double Dragon Neon and BloodRayne Betrayal which are also made by WayForward

hazelnut1112

Forgot about Neon. I also forgot about their Bloodrayne game, that game was terrible.

monkey king

Oh nice, based on the webcomic, I hope that means Omar Dogan’s art will persist (if the poster is any indication it should).

SupaPhly

damn, now that’s what you call a revival.
was the webcomic the sole reason for it?

Bec66

It just might be, but in all honesty I’m a bit surprised it didn’t happen sooner considering the comic is more popular than Bravoman, which is basically the main web-comic on shifty look.

Brimfyre

I love Wonder Momo. I can’t believe it took this long to revive her. The original game had such a quirky and original concept.

Zurashii

I want WayForward to revive and adopt Mischief Makers into their Mighty series! It shall be named Mighty Mischief Makers!

Time Sage

O.O OH GOD YES. This must happen.

Ni ~SHE MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN~

My old games lover-self is in hype state
Now we just need a Valkyrie remake without the artwork from her web comic